HOW THE NUT ACTION WILL IMPROVE EDUCATION
Notes for school leaders and governors
School leaders and governors will be aware that successive governments have taken initiatives which have undermined the professionalism of teachers and school leaders.
Yet international evidence from OECD and Finlandand elsewhere shows that trusting teachers boosts educational outcomes.
Many school leaders feel a top down pressure to implement the sorts of policies that the NUT actions oppose. Wehope this document will give those school leaders confidence that our actions are educationally sound.
The instructions included in the NUT’s campaign are intended to enhance the education of children, not inhibit it.
Our actions will:-
- Liberate teachers’ initiative, energy and drive so they are able to carry out their responsibilities in ways which enhance young people’s education
- Restore autonomy and trust in the professional judgement of teachers and school leaders
- Resist educationally unsound top down initiatives so that schools can focus on providing high quality education
- Release teachers from unnecessary workload which detracts from the core business of teaching and learning
Outlined below are some of the educational reasons behind the instructions.
APPRAISAL/PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Instruction 1: Members should not participate in any appraisal/performance management process which does not conform to all elements of the NUT/NASUWT Joint Appraisal/Performance Management Checklist and the Joint Classroom Observation Protocol.
The appraisal/performance management process should be a positive processfor teachers and their managers toassess their practice.
Both the NUT/NASUWT checklistand the NUT/ATL/NAHT joint policy on appraisal define a professional system which allows that positive process to take place.
The Government has recently introduced a list of teacher standards which must inform appraisal. Our action allows for this, but rejects the idea of teachers having to produce evidence of compliance with each standard which would generate excessive workload.
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION AND INSPECTION
Instruction 2: Members should not participate in any form of management-led classroom observation in any school which refuses to operate a policy of a limit of a total of three observations for all purposes within a total time of up to three hours per year.
Instruction 3: Members should not carry out classroom observation in any school which refuses to accept that there will be a limit of a total of three observations for all purposes within a total time of up to three hours per year.
Three observations which are planned for, and reported on, appropriately are sufficient to complete the requirements of appraisal/performance management for the majority of teachers. The NUT instructions booklet allows exceptions for teachers in the induction year or on capability procedures.
Good practice sees classroom observation as a professional dialogue with pre- and post-appraisal meetings making it a meaningful and developmental process. This good practice is seen in many schools, and where this is done with sufficient time,it would be very difficult to conduct more than three observations per teacher in any one year.
By contrast where senior staff frequentlyconduct unannounced drop-ins an atmosphere of mistrust develops and teachers lose confidence in senior management.
Instruction 4: Members should not organise or co-operate with any arrangements for observation which involve pupils commenting on the work of teachers or being involved in decision making about teachers’ roles, responsibilities, pay and promotion.
The NUT has consistently promoted the participation of pupils in school processes, or pupil voice, not least in its work on school self-evaluation, including that undertaken on behalf of the NUT by John MacBeath. Pupils’ views in the context of bottom-up school self-evaluation exercises, focused on teaching and learning and conducted confidentially, with the consent of teachers and other staff, provide valuable information, which can be used to facilitate school improvement.
Pupil participation in school decision making processes should be focused on improvements to broad policy areas, in particular, teaching and learning, rather than commenting on individual staff or pupils.
The NUT is, therefore,not opposed to pupil voice. However, we believe that pupil voice should be exercised appropriately. The teacher pupil relationship enables pupil voice to become a natural order of things.
There is no evidence to suggest that pupil observation or commenting on the work of teachers helps to improve teacher practice in any way. It is reported that most teachers think that it can undermine their authorityin the classroom and lead to the deterioration of relationships with pupils.
Instruction 5: Members should refuse to be observed teaching by anyone who does not have qualified teacher status (QTS).
Observations should be in a framework of professional dialogue and this requires the observer to be a qualified teacher. This is the situation in a large majority of schools and indeed the DFE Model Policy on Appraisal and Capability states that ‘classroom observation will be carried out by those with QTS’.
However some schools have started a process of governors observing teachers and this instruction would allow our members to refuse this.
The most useful lessonobservation and feedback comesfrompeers who can not only comment from a position of understanding, but also advise on ways of adjusting and improving lessons.
Observation by a person without QTS israrely more than a tickbox exercise which does little to improve a teacher’s practice or classroom management skills and again builds an atmosphere of mistrust.
Instruction 6: Members should not participate in mock inspections commissioned by the school, sponsor, provider or local authority.
Members should not undertake or co-operate with any preparation for a section 5 or section 8 Ofsted inspections.
Inspection by itself does not improve learning or teaching, and the process of and preparation for mock inspections outside the statutory cycle can be disruptive and have a negative effect on staff morale. Our national action seeks to remove some of the pressures surrounding a ‘high stakes’ inspection system which can often focusmore on meeting the perceived expectations of inspectors rather than on meeting needs of learners and their parents.
REPORTS TO PARENTS
Instruction 7: Members should produce only one written report annually to parents.
Most schools produce one written narrative report for parents per year and this will suffice in the vast majority of cases. Time devoted to report writing can distract from effective formative assessment and feedback to learners. One annual written report maintains appropriate accountability to parents alongside other activities taking place in the school, such as parents’ evenings and individual discussions with parents in circumstances where that is necessary.
EXISTING POLICIES AND WORKING PRACTICES AND NEW INITIATIVES AND POLICIES
Instruction 8:Members should refuse to implement any existing management-led policies and working practices which have not been workload impact assessed and agreed by the NUT.
Instruction 9: Members should refuse to implement any new management-led working practices or policies which have not been workload impact-assessed and the subject of consultation and agreement with the NUT.
Surveys show that teachers are working in excess of 50 hours per week and that this is a major reason why many leave the profession. When things are so stretched it is important that how long working parties will take are considered and that hours for any new initiative are balanced by reductions elsewhere.
It is vitally important for new initiatives to have buy-in from teachers. Educational reform should be a process they are part of not something that is done to them.
MEETINGS AND THE SCHOOL’S DIRECTED TIME CALENDAR
Instruction 10: Members should not attend any meetings outside school session times which are not within directed time and where there is no published directed time calendar for the academic year that has been agreed with the NUT.
Sensible arrangements for meetings are a key element in any work-life balance policy and are essential to prevent meetings encroaching on the time teachers need to complete their other professional duties. Planning a timetable of meetings at the beginning of the yearallows all concerned to be prepared. The NUT guidelines say that there should only be one afterschool meeting per week on average (staff meetings parents meeting etc.) and that staff meetings should last no longer than 1 hour. Very many highly successful schools run with this number of meetings or fewer.
LESSON PLANS
Instruction 12: Members should not submit lesson plans to members of the senior management team or anyone acting on behalf of the senior management team.
Lesson planning is an essential ingredient of teachers’ professional practice. It supports effective teaching and learning.
However, lesson plans cannot be fixed documents on which the quality of a teachers’ practice can be judged. Effective planning forms part of adynamic on-going process in which teachers plan, teach and assess their pupils’ progress. Effective teachers do not regard lesson plans as scripts but instead constantly review and amend their planning and their teaching as appropriate to support pupils’ learning.
For this reason we regard the practice of some schools asking teachers to hand in very detailed lesson plans covering the following week or fortnight is detrimental to education. It can be both very time consuming and lead to lessons which do not respond to the needs of the children. Neither Ofsted nor central government suggest that such handing in is necessary.
For these reasons the NUT does not believe that submitting lessons plans to members of the SMT or those acting on their behalf supports teaching and learning or that failure to do so will impact negatively on children’s learning.
EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE
Instruction 13: Members should send and respond to work-related emails only during directed time.
Email is a wonderful tool but can be misused.The time spent responding to, and dealing with emails can take up a significant amount of time which could otherwise be more efficiently used in supporting teaching and learning.Teachers need to rest and switch off during their evenings if they are to tackle the emotional, intellectual and physical challenges of engaging their students and dealing with classroom management. Long working hours have a negative impact on all teachers and on the quality of education.
PLANNING, PREPARATION AND ASSESSMENT (PPA) TIME
Instruction 14: Members should ensure that they have on their timetable the minimum of ten per cent guaranteed PPA time. Members will refer any failure to provide the time to the NUT.
Instruction 15: Members should only undertake in PPA time, planning, preparation and assessment activities which they determine are appropriate to support their timetabled lessons.
Instruction 16: Members should refuse to accept the direction of the head teacher to undertake any other activity, including cover, in PPA time.
Planning, preparation and assessment are key elements of a teacher’s professional practice and support effective teaching and learning. The 10% release time for PPA is a contractual entitlement in many schools and our instruction applying to all schools levels the playing field.
Teachers are best placed to judge the most effective use of their PPA time to support their teaching and pupils’ learning. The NUT recognises that it may be tempting on occasions for a head teacherto ask a teacher to carry out a directed task or to cover for an absent colleague during their PPA time in order to address a short-term need. However, in the long term this impacts adversely on the quality of teaching and learning by displacing other essential PPA activities identified by the teacher. It is also expressly prohibited in the STPCD 2012 (Part 10, Paragraph 63.5)
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT TIME and DEDICATED HEADSHIP TIME
Instruction 17: Members paid on the leadership spine or in receipt of a Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) payment should refuse to undertake any leadership or management responsibilities unless they have their contractual allocation of dedicated timetabled time to support the discharge of these responsibilities.
Instruction 18: Members should refuse to undertake leadership and management activities without being paid a TLR or on the leadership spine.
Instruction 19: Head teacher members with 50 per cent or more timetabled teaching commitment should refuse to undertake their teaching commitment unless they have an allocation of dedicated headship time on their timetable.
Those with leadership responsibilities should be undertaking work which focuses on, and enhances, teaching and learning. They, therefore, require time to support the discharge of these responsibilities to enable them to make an effective contribution to educational standards.
The observation of this instruction nationally, including by head teachers will highlight any deficits in staffing and resources which are to the detriment of effective learning and teaching. This in the longer term will help to ensure that schools are appropriately staffed and resourced.
INSTRUCTIONS WHICH ENSURE THAT TEACHERS CAN FOCUS ON THE CORE JOB
Instruction 20: Members should refuse to cover for absence.
Instruction 22: Members should refuse to undertake supervision of pupils during the lunch break.
Whilst teachers will not undertake supervision of pupils during the lunch break, they will, for the benefit of their students, if they choose to, undertake extra-curricular activities such as music/drama productions and clubs. Undertaking such activities should, however, not be imposed on them.
Instruction 23: Members should refuse to invigilate any public examination, including GCSEs and SATs.
Instruction 24:Members should refuse to undertake the invigilation of any ‘mock’ examinations where the school reorganises the timetable to replicate the external examination process.
Instruction 21: Where teachers are released from timetabled teaching commitments as a result of pupils being on study or examination leave, members should refuse to undertake any activities during that time other than in Section 4, paragraphs 76-77 of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) 2012.
Most schools now have procedures in place for exam invigilation which do not require teachers to undertake it. Teachers’ time is best focussed on assessment activities that require their professional expertise, such as undertaking foundation stage assessments or supervising practical or oral examinations. These activities are beneficial to students, the school and support teaching and learning.
Teachers released from timetabled commitments by these examinationscan then concentrate on the activities, as listed in this Instruction, which are beneficial to students and to the school.
ADMINISTRATIVE AND CLERICAL TASKS
Instruction 25: Members should refuse to undertake administrative and clerical tasks as exemplified in Annex 4 of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) 2012.
Again most schools have now put in place procedures and staffing so that teachers are not expected to carry our administrative tasks which are a distraction from their core role. This instruction is intended to ensure that all schools behave in this same good practice manner.
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